1.Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates generally to teaching methods and apparatuses, and more particularly to an educational method that utilizes a plurality of apparatuses to simultaneously teach reading and composing music.
2.Description of the Related Art
Traditional methods for learning how to read musical and literary compositions involve a significant amount of memorization and repetition. Learning how to read music generally requires memorization of notes and their proper location on the Bass and Treble staffs accompanied by hours of repetition with a particular instrument. Learning how to read literary works generally requires memorization of characters, their shapes, and relates sounds when combined in an arrangement accompanied by hours of repetition.
Numerous conventional systems and methods have attempted to improve on teaching of musical and literary reading, but generally fail to provide an interactive system and method that works effectively and efficiently with beginners, and particularly young children who have not yet learned to read basic literary works. Some conventional systems attempt to facilitate learning music by providing various aids, for instance, mnemonic aids to convey the manner in which musical notes are arranged such as “every good boy does fine” and “FACE,” however, significant memorization and repetition are still required to make use of such aids. Other aids include adding written indicia to, for instance, a piano keyboard, to indicate where on the piano keyboard fingers of a student should placed. The written indicia, however, does not provide a nexus between the piano keyboard and musical notes. Thus, when the written indicia is removed from the piano keyboard, the student is no longer able to read notes because the student erroneously associates the finger indicia with the note.
Examples of some conventional systems and methods include the following patent references, which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,705,229 issued Apr. 7, 2010 is directed to providing a student with a sequence of tasks using building blocks that allow the student to construct a musical arrangement, but is overly complex and not ideal for younger students, especially students who have not yet learned how to read basic literary works.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,629,527 issued Dec. 8, 2009 is directed to a system that provides a student with a modified, interactive representation of a musical score with an interactive component for feedback, but requires extensive memorization and additional components that increase the costs of utilizing the system.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,400,947 issued Dec. 20, 1921 is directed to an indicator for musical instruction that associates musical notes on staffs with keys on a keyboard and provides an audible buzzer when the correct association is made by a student, but does not teach the student how to compose music.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method for teaching and learning music that does not suffer from the limitations of conventional music learning methods, is versatile for use by a wide variety of students of varying degrees of education and ability, and is efficient, easy, and economical to use.